I believe we are at a crucial crossroad. How we in the world of enterprise, from individual consultant, non-profit, social through to typical multinational, deal with the paradigm changes coming with the coming resource limits, climate change and economic crises will create either a positive, viable future that we want; or the one we would not wish on our worst enemy.

Below are the key pillars needed for the world of enterprise, all forms of enterprise, to effectively create the future we want.

They invest in order to increase performance; and should only invest in people development when this is a demonstrably effective step to better performance. Performance growth is the primary output that L&D must deliver, and should be measured against. This means a paradigm shift in what most of today’s L&D departments do, including their reach across organisations.

What makes for a successful organisation has changed significantly over the past 20 years, and will certainly change even more in the next 20 years. We just don’t know (yet) what successful organisations will be like in 2042!

Nor exactly what successful performers will be doing to drive organisational performance.

What we do know is that the best organisations already have their star performers. And a few of these are centred in the needs of tomorrow; already doing today what your future success will require from all.

Never before have our work skills needed renewing so frequently. Only a century ago you could do exactly the same work your parents did; if they worked on a narrowboat, so could you. That is no longer true, and even less true for our children. Does your work today require a very different set of skills to your first job? Mine certainly does!

This rapid, frequent obsolescence of knowledge and skills has been unsettling enough for those in mid-career. It’s even faster and more unsettling for people (more…)